1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to, among other things, systems for handling mail (including, e.g., flats, envelopes, letters, postcards and/or other mail) and/or other objects, and certain preferred embodiments relate, more particularly, to automated systems for pre-processing mail flats handled by mail flats sorting systems.
2. Background Discussion
The following discussion is based on the inventors' knowledge and should not be construed as admissions of knowledge in the prior art.
Currently, a variety of systems are used for the handling of objects, such as, e.g., thin objects like mail flats and/or other mail. For example, the United States Postal Service (USPS) uses various systems to facilitate and enhance the handling of mail flats. Some illustrative mail processing systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,311 (the '311 patent), assigned to Northrop Grumman Corporation, entitled Flats Bundle Collator, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as though recited herein in full.
As another example, one illustrative mail processing system is the AFSM100™ flats sorting system built by Northrop Grumman Corporation and Rapistan Systems and used by the USPS The AFSM100 flats sorting machine is a mail sorting system that can process, e.g., large pieces of flat mail, such as for example magazines, in large volumes. Each AFSM100 system has three mail-feeding units.
In some of these existing mail processing systems, feeders are used to deliver mail into the systems for processing. In some illustrative and non-limiting examples, these feeders include a delivery portion and a destacking (e.g., singulating) portion. In such systems, mail is typically placed onto the delivery portion and delivered to the destacking portion. In these example systems, the mail pieces are usually delivered to a sorting section in pieces (e.g., usually having a fixed gap and/or a fixed pitch).
In such systems, operators typically load (such as, e.g., manually from mail storage hampers) the mail to be processed onto the delivery portion at the beginning of the operation. The operators usually continue to load the mail while the system processes the mail.
While the USPS processes approximately 200 billion pieces of mail per year, the mail that is processed requires substantial manual loading and tending by operators. With reference to FIGS. 1(A)–1(B), an operator typically loads mail in existing systems as follows: a) mail is brought toward the feeder in trays, tubs, carts or hampers; b) with reference to arrows A in FIGS. 1(A)–1(B), the operator manually moves handfuls of mail from the tray, tub, etc., and places it onto a surface of the system; c) the operator then integrates a new handful of mail into the stack of mail in process by moving the paddle as depicted by the arrows B shown in FIGS. 1(A)–1(B) such that new mail is captured in the stack of mail in process (the paddle then moves synchronously with a conveyor surface); d) the process is repeated.
This manual process involves a substantial amount of demanding labor and imposes a set of repetitive motions on the operators performing the loading. For letter mail, processing systems may demand about 40,000 pieces an hour. For flats mail, systems may require between about 20,000 and 40,000 pieces per hour distributed over a number of loading consoles (usually, three or four). In such cases, operators may be required to load between about 7,000 and 10,000 flats per hour. With reference to flats, by way of example, these consumption rates can require the operators to lift, transfer and groom approximately 5000 pounds of mail per hour.
In modern-day mail processing environments, sorting and other systems are continuing to run faster and longer than that in the past. The burden placed upon the operators who feed and/or operate the systems, thus, continues to increase. In many instances, the performance of mail processing equipment is increasingly dependent upon an operator's capacity to support the system.
As described above with reference to FIGS. 1(A)–1(B), mail processing delivery systems typically include both a transport system (e.g., a belt or magazine conveyor) and a pusher (e.g., paddle) system that work in tandem to deliver mail to the destacking system. In such systems, the transport system defines the rate at which the mail is delivered to the destacking system. In addition, the pusher system defines the orientation angle at which the mail is presented to the destacking system. In such systems, the transport system and the pusher system move together synchronously and are physically coupled to the same drive chain. In this manner, the pusher system acts as a “bookend” for the stack of mail as the mail is transported via the transport system.
Among other things, the elevated demands placed upon the operators who feed the systems, requires that operators present more mail and/or present mail at a faster rate. This can, e.g., reduce the amount of time available for operators to adjust, groom and/or otherwise manipulate the mail on the delivery system (e.g., to ensure that it is properly oriented for, for instance, efficient destacking).
With existing mail feeding systems that have a transport system and a pusher system that are tied together through a single drive mechanism, the synchronous nature of these systems inhibits them from being able to automatically compensate for poorly stacked mail (e.g., leaning too far forward [such as, e.g., in a manner similar to that denoted by dashed lines B shown in FIG. 2(A)] and/or too far backward [such as, e.g., in a manner similar to that denoted by dashed lines A shown in FIG. 2(A)]). These existing systems rely on the operator to correct stacking problems on the delivery system. FIG. 2(A) illustrates, among other things, several states of how the mail can be presented to the destacking unit, with an illustrative preferred state shown in solid lines.
The stack of flats depicted in solid lines in FIG. 2(A) depicts one optimal condition for presenting the flats (e.g., mail) to a destacking system in preferred embodiments. With systems as described above, an operator typically needs to repeatedly groom (e.g., manually handle and/or manipulate) the mail as it is fed into the destacking section. Otherwise, the angle of orientation relative to the paddle may vary too substantially. As a result, the variation in orientation angle will likely cause a decrease in throughput, an increase in multi-feeds, an increase in damage and/or other problems.
Therefore, a need exists for a systems and methods that can overcome, among other things, the above and/or other problems with existing systems.